Do you want to diversify your accounting firm?
Peter Towers
Founder of ESS BIZTOOLS Pty Ltd | Certified Public Accountant | Business Advisor | Mentor and Coach
We are certainly living in uncertain times.?
For most people, that’s not a good thing, but for accountants, uncertainty presents us with significant opportunities, even though it may mean we have to reconsider the way we currently work with our clients.
Just look at the world around you. It’s a frightening place!
Rising interest rates and inflation with businesses facing significant skills shortages.
Cost of living increases are heading for the Moon. House prices are tumbling and mortgage service costs are putting people under increasing pressure as interest rates continue to rise.
In our industry, ongoing digitisation has reduced taxation work, as accountants face increased competition from business and government.
Word is that banks will soon be demanding additional information on a more regular basis from borrowers on their business activities.?
All of this turbulence is creating an opportunity for accountants, like you, to refocus the way you do business and broaden the range of services that you’re offering to meet these new demands.
Business Advisory Services are the future for serious accountants and now there are powerful new software tools to help you transition to this role and better serve your clients.?
This is real accounting work which many of your clients may need right now.
By streamlining the way you operate, your clients will come to appreciate that you’re able to help them manage their businesses better in these uncertain times.
Best of all, they’ll come to realise that you’re adding value to their businesses. That’s how you build long-term relationships.?
Your accounting team will also be very happy because they’ll be tackling interesting and challenging work.
They’ll be able to see the impact of the specialised tasks their undertaking and how it’s helping your clients on an ongoing basis. Job satisfaction is a key driver in attracting good people to your team and keeping them.??
It’s up to you of course, but we expect that you’ll probably continue to offer taxation return preparation services to your business clients.
You’ll also be able to utilise a range of other packages to assist your clients with:?
…and other packages
The three product packages we’ve developed at ESS BIZTOOLS assist small and medium-sized accounting firms to offer all of these services to their clients.
See which one works best for you
Business Advisory Services Starter Package
A basic product package which will get you started for an outlay of only $41 per week including GST.
Advanced Package
A full range of packages including everything contained in the Financial Forecast Package except a subscription to PlanGuru software and training in the use of PlanGuru software and in the Academy of CPAs (Certified Predictive Accountants) training and accreditation course.?Your investment in this package is a cost of $125 per week inc. GST.
Financial Forecasting Package
Encompasses everything in the Advanced Package plus an expanded subscription to PlanGuru’s 3-way financial forecasting software. This powerful, additional module enables the preparation of budgets, cash flow forecast and projected balance sheets for up to 10 clients. In the U.S., PlanGuru only sells this subscription for use with 3 clients and charges an additional $US29 per client per month.?This offer is a real saving for Australian accountants, but the 10 client offer is only available for subscriptions made until 4 October 2022. Financial Forecasting Package clients will receive PlanGuru software training by Predictive Accounting Expert – Paul Barnaby FCA, Beyond Accounting Technologies Pty Ltd. One member of your firm can also take part in the Academy of CPAs (Certified Predictive Accountants) training and accreditation course.?Your investment in this package is $191 inc. GST per week.
Note: the weekly subscription cost for all packages has been calculated on the upfront discounted subscription charge.
Grand Final Promotion
Everybody else seems to get perks in their job, so why doesn’t anybody think about accountants?
Well, we have.
We know accountants are under a lot of stress after the financial year, so for a limited time, we’re offering a complimentary holiday accommodation package.??
You can enjoy a 4-day/3-night stay in a wide range of idyllic destinations throughout Australia.?Simply subscribe to one of our packages (paid 12 months upfront or 4 equal monthly instalments) to claim.?Click here to find out more.
Suggested action plan
Visit www.essbiztools.com.au and click on to “Free Strategy and Demonstration Session” to book a 45 minute complimentary session to discuss how ESS BIZTOOLS could assist your firm to implement virtual CFO services. You’ll be talking accountant to accountant.
You could click on “Packages and Pricing” review the packages and if you are ready to proceed complete the subscription for the package that suits your firm.
If you require further information please send us an email: [email protected] and we will get back to you.
If you are not quite ready to make a decision at this time, we’re more than happy for you to continue visiting our website and at our education events.?If you would like to discuss any ideas with us, please send us an email or call us on 1800 232 088.
Accounting News
Domain registration reminder
Could your business benefit from a streamlined domain name??
It’s not as difficult as you’d think and it could help rebrand the online look of your practice.?
The deadline for current owners of a domain registration to apply for an abridged domain name is 20 September 2022.
In the previous edition of Accountants Minute, we reported that the non-government regulator of domain registration, .au domain Administration (auDA), has announced that businesses that currently have domain names registered are able to apply via a priority access, to be able to register abridged .au domain name equivalents by 20 September 2022.
The Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman has implored small businesses to take action, to safeguard their brand and identity on the Internet.
For more details, click here .
Are you or your clients at risk with salaried employees?
By Jordan Lowry – Managing Director, Blackstone HR
There has been quite a lot of attention on salaried agreements by Fair Work Australia in recent years.
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An annualised salary arrangement is when an employer agrees to pay their employee an annual salary that includes all entitlements in terms of the relevant Modern Award.
There is a quite common misconception that if an Employer pays an employee an annualised salary, and if the employment contract references reasonable overtime, that the employer can then work the employee for as many hours as required.
We have seen a number of examples where the term “reasonable overtime” in employment agreements has been abused. Relying on the above thinking can bring the added risk of underpayment of wages and the employee seeking compensation for additional hours that were not clearly identified at the start of their employment or in the employment contract provided to them.
Example: An employer offers an annualised salary of $80,000 to an employee, the employment contract states that the employee is required to work 38 ordinary hours per week plus reasonable overtime, yet upon commencement the employee is informed that their hours of work are 10 hours of work each day, 5 days per week.
The above example would not be deemed “reasonable overtime” as the Employer was aware that the hours required for the employee’s role were significantly greater than 38 hours per week. This proposed scenario also has a significant impact on the value of the employee’s overall salary package when comparing 38 ordinary hours plus “reasonable overtime” to 50 hours of work each week.
This risk is often overlooked in an annualised salaried contract due to the previously loose definitions of “reasonable overtime”, meaning that a number of agreements default to wording such as “Your ordinary hours of work with be 38 hours per week plus reasonable overtime as required”.
So how do you go about putting together a salaried agreement?
An annualised salary arrangement will cover the following entitlements:?
When negotiating or calculating a salary, it's important to consider all of the potential overtime that may be required.?
Once you have calculated the expected overtime required for the salaried role, you must clearly state how you have calculated the employee’s salary package and how many ordinary hours and expected overtime hours each week the salary has been calculated to include.
If you or any of your clients would like us to review your salaried agreement, please do not hesitate to contact Blackstone HR on 075573 0894 or [email protected].
Research and Development – are SMEs under attack?
Some ambitious academics have their eyes firmly focused on getting a slice of the Research & Development (R&D) pie that currently belongs to the SME sector.
Having suffered financially from a lack of foreign students during COVID, a number of tertiary institutions now want to renew their fortunes by injecting themselves into R&D work that’s currently being conducted by SME businesses.
In an article entitled “Ditch R&D Tax Concessions for Direct Funding” (Financial Review, 30 August), the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sydney, Professor Emma Johnston, said tax concessions currently paid to SMEs should be scrapped in favour of direct federal funding.
This appears to be an obvious play to secure greater academic involvement in the R&D space.
Clearly, there are no benefits for academic research if R&D is only funded by tax incentives.?Academia has no way of turning those tax benefits into real money, so they want the Federal Government to stump up cash on the table.
However, this blatant pitch for greater academic involvement ignores the considerable R&D activities that are already conducted by SMEs, who often use their own funds with only a limited amount of government support.
For an SME to claim their R&D work as a tax offset, the business has to be conducted as a company.
Incorporating is not always desirable when a business is in its formative stages and they’re trying to maximise the funds they have available for their R&D activities.
Companies with turnovers under $20m that are trading at a loss are able to claim a “cash refund” calculated at 43.5% of the eligible R&D expenditure.?For most operations, this leaves little room for any academic involvement.
The Federal Government has a program known as “Innovation Connections” to help some SMEs bring in specialist academics to help them with their R&D activities.?These companies are required to have an annual turnover of at least $1.5m to claim this assistance on a matched basis of up to $50,000.
Having to have such a large turnover to be eligible for even a small amount of academic assistance is not viable for many entrepreneurs.
Whilst the current system is not perfect, it does give some assistance to SMEs with their R&D projects.
Accountants and their SME clients should be concerned by any attempt to change the current system to benefit self-interested third parties at the expense of small business operators.
Smithink Young Guns Workshop
Smithink will be presenting Young Guns Workshop, to be held at Hilton Surfers Paradise at Gold Coast on 10-11 October 2022.?This workshop is for emerging managers, supervisors and accounting team members to develop their knowledge of the business of accounting firms.
Early bird discount for registration is available until today.?Click here to find out more and to register.
e-Newsletter Proposal
e-Newsletters are a cost-effective way to maintain regular contact and develop closer ties with your clients.
Brad Smart, author of “Selling the Message”, has prepared an overview on business newsletters, which presents a great opportunity for accounting firms to recruit the services of a professional writer to add a vital service which will benefit their clients and the accounting firm.?Click here to access the article.
ESS BIZTOOLS - Podcast
Peter Towers, Managing Director of ESS BIZTOOLS, presented a podcast incorporating comments on the following:
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Free Education Events
You are invited to participate in the following education events, free of charge.?Click on your preferred event to register your attendance.
Want to know more?
Visit www.essbiztools.com.au .?You are also welcome to visit www.essbizgrants.com.au , a website that can assist in the identification of government grant(s) suitable for your clients.
If you would like to have a discussion about how this concept of virtual CFO services can be supplied by Australian accounting firms please ring our Managing Director, Peter Towers, on 1800 232 088 and we will arrange a complimentary 45 minute Zoom meeting to discuss your firm’s position and to give you our advice.
We believe that this is the blueprint for the delivery of an enhanced range of services by Australian accounting firms to assist SME businesses to add value to their businesses and to assist accountants not only to attract but to retain outstanding talent who want to be involved in the delivery of “real accounting services”.